Darcy Kaufman ACF Abstract FY10

Nato3 is Sufficient to Promote Ectopic Floor Plate Marker Expression in the Rostral Neural Tube of the Gallus Gallus Embryo"

Conference Name: American Society for Cell Biology Annual Conference

Nato3 is a basic helix-loop-helix protein that is expressed in the floor plate region of the neural tube during development. Floor plate cells release the morphogen Shh, which influences the neural fate of neighboring neural progenitors in the neural tube. To determine if Nato3 expression is sufficient to promote floor plate cell lineage in the developing neural tube we misexpressed Nato3 in the neural progenitors of spinal cord and rostral neural tube using in ovo electroporation. We monitored neural progenitors and their progeny that misexpressed the electroporated Nato3 during development using a bicistronic EGFP reporter expression vector. Using immunohistochemistry we compared the effect of Nato3 misexpression on neural progenitors in the spinal cord and hindbrain using the floor plate cell marker Foxa2. Nato3 misexpression in the spinal cord after the closure of the neural tube did not change the expression of floor plate, glial or pan-neuronal markers. However, Nato3 misexpression in the hindbrain after of the closure of the neural tube caused ectopic expression of the floor plate marker Foxa2. These results indicates that there are regional differences in neural progenitor response to Nato3 overexpression in the neural tube.